Apple has maintained its iPhone popularity over the years, and it still remains to be a fan favourite. But it looks like the iPhone 14 didn’t turn out to be as popular as expected, and it even managed to receive one of the lowest 5-star ratings ever, making it the biggest drop in a decade.
This isn’t a survey from Apple obviously, but a study conducted by PerfectRec with over 669,000 user-generated reviews of iPhones. The folks at PerfectRec analysed 13 years of user-generated iPhone reviews starting with the iPhone 4 that launched back in 2010, and going up till the latest iPhone 14. The ratings are also for the base model of all these iPhones.
The graph below shows that there has been a gradual increase in 5-star ratings except for the iPhone 5 which saw a small dip. But from the iPhone 6 till the iPhone 13 it has only increased. The iPhone 13 received 80 percent 5-star ratings but the iPhone 14 dipped to 72 percent.
Also, not just the base iPhone 14 but even its Pro models caused a break in the graph. The iPhone 13 Pro had 84 percent of 5-star ratings while the iPhone 14 Pro got 76 percent. Similarly, the iPhone 13 Pro Max got 86 percent of 5-star ratings and the iPhone 14 Pro Max got 80 percent.
According to PerfectRec, the gradual increase in 5-star ratings for iPhones could have been due to the fact that these iPhones only got better with each generation. Also, another factor it considers is how consumers have been giving favourable reviews over time.
As for the dip in ratings for the iPhone 14, PerfectRec suggests it’s because of Apple not offering any big change in terms of features, design and hardware. Also, the decision to re-use an older chip (A15) on a flagship model, no high refresh rate, and no Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 could have also led to users lower rating the iPhone 14. These changes are exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max which scored higher 5-star ratings than its siblings.
